The Bottineau pioneer., 1887-04-14

manent bluegrass soil on land once
occupied by trees than on land on which
trees are not found.
Substitutes For Hard Coal.
It is possible that the hard-coal bar.
ons and their allies, the railway kings,
have injured their future prospects by
advancing the price of the fuel now
used in town residences far beyond the
cost of mining and transportingit. The
great abundance of anthracite coal inv
this country, the cheapness of mining
it and the low cost of transporting it
made it for long time the fashionable
fuel for nearly all OUT urban popula-
tions. In fact it's use was extending in
to the rural districts very rapidly till
the unholy alliance of mine-owners,
railway companies, and wholesale coal
dealers was formed. That it is posi-
BILE to get along and to render life
comfortable and pleasant without
using anthracite coal is certain. 1t is
desirable for the fact that it is clean to
handle and that it burns without Great
ing smoke. But inventive talent may
be able to produce stoves, ranges, and
furnaces in which bituminous coal can
be burned without the production of
smoke, SCOT, or tar. 1t may also pro-
vide means for comprising peat and
straw so that they can be burned in or
dinary stoves and CRATES. Had the
country not been we'll supplied with
hard coal fuel equal or nearly equal
to it would have been brought into use
long ago. Its abundance and former
cheapness stood in the way of finding
good substitute for it.
This country contains enough peat
to supply it with fuel for cenuries. 1t
is found in almost every township in all
the western states and territories. 1t
can generally be obtained and put in a
condition for burning at the cost of cut
ting and drying In the form in which it
is generally burned in Ireland it is quite
bulky, and requires protection to keep
it in good condition. 1T is, however,
clean to handle, and the slight smoke
thrown off by it from stove or CRATE
is not offensive, like the smoke of soft
coal or green wood. 1t can be COM
pressed in the form of sticks of stove
wood so that it can be burned in an
open Fireplace or in Jumps suitable for
stoves made for the buring of hard or
soft coal. During the civil war anthra-
cite coal became SO dear that several
Companies were formed in various parts
of the country for pressing peat to be
used in locomotive and stationary boil
er furnaces and in stoves and open
fire-places. The fall in the price of
hard coal at the close of the war put
an end to the operations of most of
these companies, but they demonstrated
that it was practicable to furnish a
substitute for anthracite coal. Had the
digging and pressing of peat been en-
couraged by the department of agri-
culture as the sorghum sugar and silk
raising humbugs have been, people
might now sit by their pleasant peat
fires and laugh at the operations of the
coal barons.
Had state and county agricultural So
cieties offered as many and as large
prizes for prepared peat as they have
now be independent of the coal barons.
Portable machines would be visiting
peat-bogs in every neighborhood, and
prepar ing fuel for the use of farmers.
Without aid from the general govern
ment or encouragement from local ag-
ricuItural societies, a company has been
formed at Superior, Wis, for. produc-
ing an excellent fuel from crude peat,
which is very abundant in many parts
| of that state. A recent dispatch to
The TIMES states that experiments
have been made showing that peat can
be solidihed to a density of eighty
pounds cubic foot, Or equal to Illinois
coal. 1t can be produced at a cost not
exceeding the freight alone on coal from
Buffalo to Superior, and one ton will
evaporate more water than cord of
oak wood. The company proposes to
manufacture peat coke, pronounced
by experts to be superior to the best
hardwood charcoal.
Iowa is: also taking steps to use a
substitute for hard COAL Experiment
tai ovensfor converting soft coal into
coke have been erected at Des Moines,
and the tests made in them were very
the subject The Register of that city
come to these conclusions: That good
crushed coke can be produced and
loaded on the car or delivery wagons
at the ovens at 50. 25 per ton. Add to
this $1.25 for cost of delivery and fair
profits to the retailer and we have coke
delivered to the consumer in Des
Moines at the low price of $3.50 per
ton. A ton of coke will produce very
nearly as much heat as ton of anthra-
cite coal, and when properly crushed
and screened is as clean and free from
smoke or gas. For use in CRATES and
all kinds of furnaces coke is much bet
ter ;than anthracite. Most of the coke
now used in Des Moines for domestic
purposes comes from our gas works,
and is burned to get all the gas out OF
it, without any effort to make a good
quality of coke. Yet. with the price at
$3.50 a ton, they cannot supply the de.
mand. Reduce, then the price Of coke
to $3.50 a ton, and there would be very
few people who would continue to burn
anthracite at $3.50 to $10.50 a ton.
This would be saving to the people OF
Des Moines alone of more than $3.50.
600 every year, and of millions of dol
lars to the state. Another great adyan.
i IA o,e xvonld he Sivinp steady work te